A peripheral country is not part of the center of power worldwide.
In order to know the meaning of the term peripheral country , it is necessary, first of all, to discover the etymological origin of the two words that give it shape:
-Country, on the one hand, derives from late Latin. Specifically, it emanates from “page(n)sis”, which can be translated as “inhabitant of a town” and which comes, in turn, from the noun “pagus”, which is synonymous with “town”.
-Peripheral, on the other hand, has its etymological origin in Greek. Yes, because it is the result of the sum of several lexical components of said language: the prefix “peri-”, which can be translated as “around”; the verbal form “phero”, which is equivalent to “I carry”, and the suffix “-ikos”, which is synonymous with “relative to”.
What is a peripheral country
The notion of peripheral country is used in the field of politics , sociology and economics to refer to nations that are not part of the center of power worldwide . This means that peripheral countries are underdeveloped .
There are currents of thought that postulate the existence of a center-periphery duality at the international level. According to this perspective, the prevailing economic order is based on a hegemonic ( industrial ) center that sets the conditions of an unequal exchange with the subordinate ( agricultural ) periphery . This imbalance prevents the development of peripheral countries.
The industrialized center, according to this theory , manages to increase its productivity faster than the underdeveloped periphery. The terms of trade, in this framework, deteriorate progressively, with a fall in the real prices of those primary products offered by peripheral countries.
Haiti is an example of a peripheral country.
underdeveloped territories
It can be stated that a peripheral country, in short, is an underdeveloped or developing territory . In other words: peripheral countries are poor . Just as it is possible to divide the world between center and periphery, you can also choose other classifications, such as first world and third world (peripheral countries, from this perspective, are part of the third world).
A peripheral country has an underdeveloped economy , lacks good infrastructure, and the majority of its inhabitants live in poverty. It is common that they do not have the means to exploit their natural resources in a sustainable manner and that they need financial help from the powers to finance their State or assist the people who live in it.
Common characteristics of an underdeveloped country
In the same way, another series of common characteristics that peripheral countries have or usually have is established and they are the following:
-They have a government that turns out to be weak.
-Its society is made up of a small bourgeois part and a large peasant majority. Hence there is a notable social inequality between the wealthiest classes and the rest of the citizens.
-On numerous occasions they become the target of large multinationals. And they find in these countries many resources as well as very cheap labor.
-They have very little industrialization.
Examples of peripheral countries, according to the latest studies carried out, are nations such as Guatemala, Honduras, Mozambique, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Morocco or Senegal, among others.